The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) published adult-use sales figures for December earlier this week, completing full-year sales data for 2020. In a press release, IDFPR announced that adult-use cannabis retailers in the state generated over $86.8 million in gross revenue in December. December’s sales are up 15.4% from November’s just under $75.2 million. December’s adult-use revenues represent a record monthly tally to close the year.
Overall, for 2020, sales in Illinois’ adult-use market totaled almost $669.1 million, a very impressive first year sales total for the market that opened on New Year’s Day last year.
Combined with December’s medical cannabis sales, which we examine below, total retail cannabis revenue in Illinois reached over $121.3 million last month, up 14.4% from just under $106 million in combined sales in November.
For 2020, combined adult-use and medical cannabis sales in Illinois reached over $1.03 billion. Illinois is only the second state after California to see over $1 billion in legal sales in its first year of adult-use legalization.
Sales to out-of-state customers increased in December but made up a smaller proportion of total sales compared to the prior month. According to IDFPR, residents from states other than Illinois were responsible for 26.9% of sales in December, or over $23.3 million. In November, out-of-state shoppers accounted for 27.5%, or over $20.6 million, of the total revenue tallied. In February, prior to the pandemic, out-of-state sales made up 36% of Illinois’ monthly adult-use revenue total.
Reported wholesale flower prices in Illinois’ adult-use market declined in December. From November to December, monthly average rates for flower in the state’s adult-use sector decreased by 0.6%. The state’s Spot Index, which includes both medical and adult-use wholesale transactions, also declined in the same span by 3.5%.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), which oversees the state’s medical cannabis program, also recently issued an update on patient numbers and sales figures for December. Retail sales rose to close the year, while cultivator sales also increased. Assessed prices for flower designated to be sold to patients ticked downward again in December as retail prices stabilized at levels lower than those observed earlier this year.
IDPH data shows retail sales of medical cannabis in December totaled over $34.4 million, up by 12.1% compared to November’s revenues of over $30.7 million. December’s 2020’s retail revenues are up by 26% year-over-year, compared to over $27.3 million in sales recorded in the same month in 2019.
For 2020, medical cannabis sales in Illinois reached over $365.7 million, up 45.6% from over $251.2 million in 2019.
Of December’s sales total, 47.6% – or over $16.4 million – went to purchase flower, a proportion down from the month prior, when the percentage was 48.3%. Flower’s proportion of total medical cannabis sales in Illinois had previously trended upward in 2020 but has hovered around 48% in recent months.
As of the end of December, IDPH had approved 145,712 patient applications since the opening of the state’s registry in September 2014, down by about 240 from the month prior. 55 dispensaries served 66,848 unique patients in December, up by about 3,100 unique patients compared to the previous month.
Each patient purchased, on average, 18.7 grams of flower in December, up from 17.7 grams in November. The average retail price of a gram of flower in Illinois’ medical market in December was $13.16, comparable to November’s mean retail price per gram of $13.15.
On the wholesale side of the market, Illinois cultivation centers recorded over $29.7 million in revenue in December, up by 19.3% from over $24.9 million in supply side sales documented in November.